Happy 12th Niketalk!

I've been here 10 years man.
10 freaking years. Before any myspace, twitter, facebook, youtube...there was NT.

Shouts out to Meth.
 
HBD NT!
pimp.gif
 
Originally Posted by Animal Thug1539

I've been here 10 years man.
10 freaking years. Before any myspace, twitter, facebook, youtube...there was NT.

Shouts out to Meth.

apparently no one likes to thank Nelson C
 
Happy Birthday to the site responsible for my first flight - to a West Coast Summit - and for a handful of friendships ongoing for 10+ years...only one thing would have made this site better, making me a moderator.
smile.gif
 
Been apart of the community for 7 great years..still have love for sneakers..and met some cool people through #NTwitter
pimp.gif
 
3 days late? Where are you, meth!
was expecting some sort of announcement.

And I'd hoped to give you an announcement, but, unfortunately, circumstances haven't allowed it.  
All I can say is that we're in negotiations with multiple parties to bring NikeTalk to a new platform within the first half of 2012.  

Our current situation remains in flux to the point where I really can't comment on the "where" and "when."  And, really, positive change isn't something you just want to hear about.  It's something you want to see.  

Promises and possibilities aren't enough.  If you've stuck with us, you've suffered through a worse user experience than you deserve and you're not going to be satisfied with anything less than dramatic, visible results.  It's not a victory to "slow the bleeding," or even to stop the bleeding.  We want to heal.  We want to grow.  

We're not where we want to be yet - and although we can blame Yuku's previous owners for the platform's seemingly inexhaustible array of technical failures, it is ultimately my failure for placing the community's trust in the wrong people.  We establish lofty goals for our community each year, and we have not fallen short due to a lack of skill or effort on the part of our team.  Day in and day out, they have coped with an unbearable situation without compensation, compromise, or complaint.  

I apologize that such heroic efforts have been poured into so wretched a container.  It is nothing short of inspiring to see what you're willing, day in and day out, to overcome in order to experience and contribute to this community.  That is a testament to just how much NikeTalk means to all of us here.  The user experience should REWARD your commitment, not test it.  The only way to atone for that is to set things right.  Please know that I'm doing everything in my power to make that happen and bring you the type of platform that our community so richly deserves.  

In a way, it's very apropos that ijapino started the thread this year.  He's done a phenomenal job of really stepping up and assuming a leadership role in our sneaker forums.  I shudder to think about where the Jordan forum would be right now, for example, without his efforts.  My own interest in sneakers has waned precipitously over the past several years, so it's been difficult for me to play much of a vocal part in those sections.  (Honestly, though, I don't think I'm really missed there.)  Moderators and administrators need to be active participants in the communities they help maintain.  Our staff members have always emerged from within the community.  We don't just go out, pick someone with X years of experience moderating the official forum of the Philadelphia Flyers or the Cher fan club site, and ask them to keep our users in line.  You're not, despite the jokes, dealing with automatons here.  Dirtylicious doesn't just post "warned/banned."  Skaredrandomnumbers doesn't just post "warned/banned."  Kdawg doesn't just post "warned/banned."  Ijapino doesn't just post warned/banned."  Kingcrux doesn't just post "warned/banned."  Buy/sell guides like Animal Thug don't just post "listing denied."  They aren't just roles and access levels.  They are people we've come to know, trust, and (in some cases) like.  They are people who've demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to the community and who have sacrificed considerably for our collective benefit.  For those of you who only see the rules as an impediment, I'd encourage you to stop by competing sneaker boards and the youtube comments section sometime.  For every inconvenience our rules cause you, try to keep in mind all of the miserable things that our staff and our policies spare you from.  

This is not to say, however, that we offer the "ultimate" online sneaker community because we've assembled the "ultimate" staff.  Ultimately, we have amazing staff members because we have amazing members.  That's what makes NikeTalk a true community.  NikeTalk is organic.  It's a community that exists for its own purposes - that is, a community for the sake of community, not a community for the sake of profit.  It is not a means to an end, but the end in itself.  That, by definition, is what makes it "ultimate."  

All of the best things NikeTalk achieved this year came from within.  My favorite moments this year are actually ongoing:  our fundraising drives for Japan and Somalia.  These are stories that you're writing one sacrifice at a time, and unlike the stories woven in most General forum posts, they are indisputably real.   Here, NikeTalk has exceeded beyond all expectations.  You've achieved something that those on the outside looking in, who read the little Ad Busters blurb about NikeTalk and sneer at our superficiality, considered us incapable of.  

And you come here, many of you, every single day and you do something that most self-professed website professionals consider unthinkable:  you spend time on this crude, rusted out, text heavy website that, visually and structurally, has scarcely changed in our 12 years of operation.  To external observers, our site's appeal is indecipherable.  Why, they wonder, would ANYONE visit this old relic?  

When many of us were growing up, we didn't get a little Lexus coupe for our sweet sixteen.  We spent much of our time riding around in old trains or beat up, used cars.  Even so, we tend to have pretty fond memories of them.  You know the train lines better than the lines on the back of your hand.  You get nostalgic when you think about that run down, fume-bellowing old Bronco, or Chevy, or Volvo.  You wouldn't trade those memories in for a lifetime alone in even the flashiest sports car.  You have to be a part of NikeTalk to understand it.  You have to experience the camaraderie.  You have to joke and argue with these people, discuss things that range from the all too serious to the utterly frivolous.  Despite all the petty differences, all the egos, all the immaturity, all the obnoxiousness, NTers pull together.  As I said in the fundraising thread for MSF/Somalia, NikeTalk isn't about commodity, but commonality.  This system, this dilapidated structure, is just a vehicle for that.  

And you are the drivers.  


Thank you - all of you - for journeying together with us.  Thank you for moving us forward. 
 
Back
Top Bottom